Canada holding National Championship in '18

Standardbred Canada is pleased to announce that a National Driving Championship (NDC) will be hosted in 2018 and the winner will have the opportunity to join 2017 World Driving Champion, James MacDonald, in the 2019 World Driving Championship in Sweden.

Standardbred Canada hosted the 2017 World Driving Championship (WDC) in August and MacDonald's victory earned him an automatic invitation to the 2019 event in which he will become the representative for the International Trotting Association.

Canada was invited to send a second driver to the 2019 event and Standardbred Canada accepted the invitation. For the 2017 WDC, New Zealand also opted to send a second driver, Mark Purdon, along with the 2015 defending World Driving Champion, Dexter Dunn.

"This is a great opportunity for another one of our top drivers to represent Canada on the international stage," said Dan Gall, President and CEO of Standardbred Canada. "We had such positive feedback and outstanding wagering results with the field of 11 drivers for the 2017 event that we felt it made sense for us to support the 2019 WDC by sending that 11th competitor."

In 2018, a regional driving championship will be hosted in each of Standardbred Canada's four regions, and the top two drivers from each of those events will have the opportunity to compete in the National event. All championships are one-day events, consisting of eight races with drivers earning points based on their official finishing position.

A Request For Proposals for host tracks will be issued later this week and track hosts will be announced in early January. (Standardbred Canada)